Objective attained for her daughters

Torres now has GED and wants to tutor.

Torres now has GED and wants to tutor.

June 20, 2006

Patricia Torres' daughter would go to school and come home crying, because she couldn't understand what the teacher was saying. That's why Torres, who graduated with a GED this spring, now wants to help children who are in the same situation. "I would like to work for the South Bend Community School Corp. to help children who are going to start school and don't speak English well," she said. Torres' own journey in learning English and getting a GED has been a long one, and one that few who undertake actually finish. Nine years ago, Torres moved to South Bend from Mexico with her husband, Antonio Gonzalez, and her two daughters, Yessica and Tania Gonzalez, now 16 and 15 years old, respectively. She didn't speak English at all. Within a year of settling here, Torres, now of Mishawaka, started taking English as a Second Language classes. The reason, she said, was "because my daughters started school and it was hard for me to help them with their homework." But in no way was her life placed on hold to make way for her studies. Shortly after she started taking classes, she also started working full time.Plus she had to cook for her family, and mop and sweep after her children.And soon she would have a third child, Jennifer Gonzalez, now 6. "When you have so many things to do it's difficult to focus on your education. But my teachers helped me a lot," she said. In fact, it took Torres about seven years to learn English and obtain her GED. "Last year I decided to just Pablo Ros Voces Latinas Pablo Ros writes a weekly feature for The Tribune. finish once and for all, because I was forgetting things that I had learned," she said. Her efforts are typical and many individuals don't even finish. "Almost everyone I know wants to (pursue education) but they don't easily find the willpower," she said. "Especially when they see someone who succeeds they say, 'I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it,' but when you're older you really need a lot of willpower to do it." Torres said she had good reasons for persevering. "I think that (I did it) for my children, and because here it's very difficult to find work or to go anywhere and be understood," she said. "I want my daughters to never quit studying," she later added. "Even if they say, 'Oh, it's too difficult,' I want to be an example to them so they don't say to me, 'Oh, I'm not going to finish because you didn't finish.'" Before she learned English, Torres had to rely on others to interpret for her, which she didn't like. "It's bothersome because sometimes other people don't have the time (to interpret for you) or they interpret incorrectly," she said. Being able to speak English makes a huge difference in her life. "I no longer need to look for anybody to help me translate, in my children's school or when I go to the doctor," she said. "One has to willingly find the time to be able to move ahead," she added. Then she used a popular expression in Spanish to explain that there is no magic formula for success except hard work and willpower. "Querer es poder," she said. The interview for this story was conducted in Spanish.A Spanish version of this story can be found at www.southbendtribune.com.Staff writer Pablo Ros: pros@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6555